Huston-Tillotson University Introduces Its First Master’s Degree Offering

AUSTIN – Following its founding legacy, Huston-Tillotson University, established as a “normal school” to train teachers, will offer its first master’s degree in educational leadership with the principal certification. The program, housed within the College of Arts and Sciences under the Educator Preparation Department, is accepting applications now for the January 2015 launch.

“The master’s degree in educational leadership fulfills a community need and upholds the heritage of Huston-Tillotson University,” said President and CEO Larry L. Earvin, Ph.D. “The education foundation established by visionaries who understood the significance of teachers continues with a leadership model to ensure that all children are successful.”

The graduate program received approval from the State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC), as well as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS/COC), which functions as the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states.

Huston-Tillotson University’s educator preparation certification process operates under the auspices of several accrediting bodies. The Texas Education Agency assigned the “accredited” status to HT’s Accountability System for Educator Preparation. The undergraduate program prepares candidates for meaningful careers in the field of education within a solid liberal arts foundation framed within a social justice perspective. Candidates develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to become effective and caring teachers in an ever-changing society and are prepared to become reflective, lifelong learners. The graduate program is designed primarily for working teachers, seeking advancement to the administrative level. Students will be taught by experienced award-winning principals, superintendents, and administrators with classes to fit around a working teacher’s schedule. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, a teacher certification, teaching experience, letters of intent and references, pass a background check, and meet the minimum grade point average requirement.

Huston-Tillotson University, founded after the 1952 merger of Samuel Huston and Tillotson colleges, created one of the largest black Protestant church-related colleges in the country at that time. HT, an historically black institution, has the proud distinction of being Austin’s first institution of higher education. It was established ten years after the civil war ended to provide educational access and opportunities to freed slaves, and, specifically to train teachers in order to ensure a lasting legacy of self-empowerment and advancement. Huston-Tillotson University remains a private, church-affiliated institution that is currently home to nearly 1,000 students of varying ethnic, racial and religious heritage.

Huston-Tillotson University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404.679.4500 for questions about the accreditation of Huston-Tillotson University.

“The master’s in education at Huston-Tillotson is the first and only principal preparation program at a Texas private HBCU,” said Department of Educator Preparation Department Chair, Dr. Ruth Kane. “We are honored to prepare educational leaders who reflect the diversity of students in Texas.”

For more information about the master’s degree program, visit, www.htu.edu/ppp or call Kane at 512.505.3091.